Habs Boys holds Dragons’ Den event

On Wednesday 7 March 2018, for the second time, The Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School hosted their very own Dragons’ Den grand final, as part of National Careers Week.

 

As in previous years, the School encouraged teams of pupils to explore their entrepreneurial instincts and submit business ideas to pitch to specially invited panels of Dragons. After a number of rounds earlier in the term, four teams were shortlisted and called back to pitch once more to a star-studded panel of judges comprising former TV Dragon Piers Linney, Non-Executive Director at British Business Bank; new TV Dragon Jenny Campbell, Founder of YourCash Europe; and an ‘Old Boy’ of the School Magnus Djaba, Global President, Saatchi & Saatchi and CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi UK.

Piers and Magnus returned to Habs after the 2016 final with TV presenter Sonali Shah. Sonali introduced and chaired the occasion, expertly keeping proceedings to time. After four excellent pitches, CryptoCorp were crowned winners for their pitch for an unhackable cloud-based data storage space. Congratulations to CryptoCorp and well done also to all of those who participated throughout the competition.

Manav’s business partner, Team CryptoCorp’s Daniel Rivlin, Year 10, added: “I’m absolutely exhilarated to win. I feel that winning this competition has repaid the hours of research and preparation put in towards the idea and pitch. I’m very proud.”

 

After the event all the competitors were lucky enough to be able to not only network with the judges, but also receive one-to-one informal feedback and take some photos with them.

 

Piers Linney said: “I wanted to return to Habs to support the next generation of entrepreneurs and was once again very impressed with the quality of presentation and research into market opportunities for each product, as well as the ability of the students to answer questions under pressure. Each team showed a great understanding of business, entrepreneurship and the impact of new technologies.” Of the School, Piers added: “From my last experience of Habs Boys and from today, I can see it’s a wonderful place with amazing facilities. Old Habs Boys I know speak very highly of the School and often talk about how it’s been key to their success.”

 

Magnus Djaba said: “It’s always great to come back to the School and nice to be invited back to be a judge for the second time. Being an ‘Old Boy’ naturally I expected a lot, yet they surprised me and surpassed my high expectations. The confidence and maturity of the boys impressed me – they listened to the questions and the feedback from all of the ‘dragons’. They did brilliantly and even at the age of 15, seem ready for graduate jobs well ahead of their time.”

 

Jenny Campbell said: “As an ambassador for Young Enterprise, I’m very passionate about supporting young people to be successful as individuals, particularly in business. The competition is a great idea and all the teams did very well. I thought all the boys were confident and credible. As I drove into the School, it felt like a place with energy and passion. The students are motivated to achieve and this ties in with my strapline of ‘be the best you can be’ – this already exists at the School.

 

The competition was the vision of Khilan Dodhia, an Old Boy himself and Partner at Encore Capital. Khilan explained the reason why he wanted to help organise the event for the second time: “The ‘dragons’ were tough and the boys were excellent and composed in pitching and answering all of their questions. The quality and confidence on show from the boys was unbelievable. It’s important that students and their parents think about a broader range of careers. There are new opportunities out there. We used the popular Dragons’ Den theme to engage the younger audience into being passionate about business. We’re delighted to continue to inspire entrepreneurship.”

 

The School are extremely grateful to Khilan and his colleagues at Encore Capital for their ongoing support with this exciting competition. Immense thanks must also go to the judges for giving up their time to attend the event, as well as to those at the School who worked tirelessly to ensure the success of the competition yet again.

 

The aim of this initiative has been to encourage and develop some entrepreneurial spirit, as well as refine presentation skills and the ability to ‘think on your feet’.